Regarding your second bullet - do you have an alter ego to test anti-HN sentiments as well? Not really in good taste, I know, but it would be interesting as a s

Regarding your second bullet - do you have an alter ego to test anti-HN sentiments as well? Not really in good taste, I know, but it would be interesting as a social experiment. I notice that a lot of posters prefix their comments with a "damn-the-downvotes" remark, which shows that a lot of disussion is skewed toward karma-preservation. Both up and downvoting are fraught and maybe you really need both or neither one.